Indiana remains No. 1; Kentucky drops out of poll

Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Hoosiers defends Patrick Cole #1 of the Coppin State Eagle during the game at Assembly Hall on December 1, 2012 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Indiana remained a strong No. 1 in men's
college basketball and is closely followed by Duke and Michigan in the latest
Associated Press rankings, but Kentucky has tumbled all the way out of the
poll.

Coming off a national championship with a much different roster, Kentucky was
third in the preseason poll and dropped to eighth after a loss to Duke. The
Wildcats are no longer among the top 25 after losses last week to Notre Dame
and Baylor. It's the first time Kentucky is unranked since John Calipari took
over for the 2009-10 season.

Indiana has been at the top all season and received 45 first-place votes with
a total of 1,605 points from a nationwide media panel this week. Duke is again
second with 20 No. 1 votes -- two more than last week. The Blue Devils beat a
top-five opponent for the third time in three weeks with last Wednesday's
73-68 victory over Ohio State.

Ohio State was fourth last week and dropped to seventh after falling in
Durham. Syracuse moved up two spots to fourth, while Louisville -- Duke's
victim in the Bahamas -- remained fifth after struggling to a 69-66 win over
Illinois State on Saturday.

The second 10 consists of Cincinnati, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota,
Georgetown, Creighton, San Diego State, New Mexico, Michigan State and North
Carolina. Cincinnati moved up six places from 17th, Illinois vaulted nine
spots from 22nd and New Mexico jumped seven places from 25th.

Perennial powers Michigan State and North Carolina each dropped six places
from last week. The Spartans were beaten by Miami-Florida, while the Tar Heels
lost at Indiana.

The last five teams ranked this week are UNLV, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State,
Wichita State and North Carolina State. Notre Dame, after its home win over
Kentucky, is back in the poll after a two-week absence, while Wichita State is
unbeaten after eight games and ranked for the first time this season.

In addition to Kentucky, Colorado also dropped out this week. The Buffaloes
were beaten by Wyoming on Saturday.

Just one matchup of ranked teams is on tap for this week, as Illinois visits
Gonzaga on Saturday.